Subsiding Sundaland

Anne-Clarisse Sarr (1) , Laurent Husson (1) , Pierre Sepulchre (2) , Anne-Morwenn Pastier (3) , Kevin Pedoja (4) , Mary Elliot (5) , C. Arias-Ruiz (5) , T. Solihuddin (6) , S. Aribowo (6) , Susilohadi Susilohadi (6)

1 ISTerre - Institut des Sciences de la Terre
2 CLIM - Modélisation du climat
3 GR - Géosciences Rennes
4 M2C - Morphodynamique Continentale et Côtière
5 LPG - Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique [UMR 6112]
6 Indonesian Government

Sundaland is the currently partially drowned continental landmass (the Sunda shelf) that encompasses Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and the Malay Peninsula. The central part of the shelf has been episodically reclaimed from the sea during successive Quaternary glaciations. Combining geomorphological observations with numerical simulations of coral reef growth, we show that the Sunda shelf is subsiding, and that this intermittent regime of transgressions only prevailed over the last 400,000 years BP. Prior to that age, Sundaland was permanently emerged. We relate this event to transient dynamic topography in the Indo-Australian subduction zone. We anticipate that this revised paleogeography could make Sundaland a remarkable example of the interplay between the solid Earth and the soft Earth (hydro-, atmo-, and bio-sphere).

Domaines: Géomorphologie; Stratigraphie

Anne-Clarisse Sarr, Laurent Husson, Pierre Sepulchre, Anne-Morwenn Pastier, Kevin Pedoja, et al.. Subsiding Sundaland. Geology, 2019, 47 (2), pp.119-122. ⟨10.1130/G45629.1⟩. ⟨hal-02440378⟩